TO SEE: Purity, on display through May 11th

The exhibition Purity is currently on display at Fotografiska: The Swedish Museum of Photography in Stockholm. This exhibit features the work of Swedish photographer David Magnusson as he explores the American phenomenon of Purity Balls.

These ceremonies, popular in the American Mid-West, hope to elevate young women’s expectations of their relationships by taking vows with their fathers that they will remain chaste until marriage. Commonly rings are exchanged.

Through Magnusson’s lens we see fathers and their daughter(s) dressed in tuxes and ball-gowns standing in the foreground with the vastness of the American Western landscape behind them. While the composition remains the same throughout the edit, the subjects’ expressions and interactions bring a delicate and intimate nuance to the images.